All News articles – Page 1329
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News
Call to end ‘mock trials’ in public inquiries
The ‘litigation model’ of public inquiries should be reformed to embrace alternative methods of dialogue and decision-making, according to a report published by the chief executive of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR). The report’s author, CEDR chief executive Karl Mackie, said that public inquiries ...
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Society calls for tribunal fines to fund regulation
The Law Society has proposed that fines imposed at the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal be used to fund regulation of the legal profession. Last week the Gazette revealed that almost half of the solicitors fined by the tribunal in recent years had avoided paying those fines in ...
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No justice for Zimbabwean campaigner
It’s almost a decade since the Gazette first reported that Zimbabwean human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa had been beaten up and thrown into jail. And now she is behind bars again. The Law Society and the International Bar Association have both called for her immediate release, ...
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Career opportunities
Obiter hears that skills minister Matthew Hancock rather put his foot in it at last week’s launch of the higher apprenticeship in legal services. The minister waxed lyrical about new possibilities for non-graduate entry into the legal profession, while seemingly unaware of the Chartered Institute ...
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Supreme Court holds secret hearing in Mellat case
The Supreme Court has submitted to what its president Lord Neuberger called the ‘unhappy procedure’ of becoming a secret court to consider some of an Iranian bank’s appeal concerning the validity of a 2009 order made against it by HM Treasury. The Treasury claimed that privately ...
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Chancellor cheers conveyancers, as Scots vote on ‘sep rep’
Chancellor George Osborne today cheered conveyancers by announcing in his budget dramatic new measures to boost the housing market. A help-to-buy scheme is to be introduced for prospective purchasers struggling to find mortgage deposits. This will include £3.5bn for shared ...
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Seeing the positives in change
Complaints allowed before we’ve even signed up the client? This can’t be true, you may cry. Well, I’m afraid it is, but behind every threat is an opportunity waiting to be seized. The news that even potential clients can now complain about you, following the ...
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Press royal charter looks like a winner for lawyers
When one door closes, another opens. So, if your legal aid or PI business looks a little shaky at the moment, have you considered opportunities in media law? The Recognition Panel whose royal charter was approved today in the latest tortuous step of the Leveson process opens up plenty of ...
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Identity check conundrum
Do the Land Registry rules regarding confirmation of identity spell the end for selling property under a power of attorney? According to Practice Guide 67 and rule 17 of the Land Registration Rules 2003, the chief land registrar is entitled to require evidence of identity of ...
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Grayling flies flag for City law firms
Justice secretary Chris Grayling has announced a renewed drive to export the UK’s legal services as City firms fight to maintain healthy profit margins. Grayling used a speech last week to stress that London was as much as a legal centre as a financial one and ...
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Cold-calling prosecutions planned
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is ready to prosecute up to a dozen more companies who carry out cold-calling and send spam text messages. This week the ICO fined a second company for unlawful marketing techniques to attract personal injury and payment protection insurance claimants. ...
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Insurers turn guns on compensation payments
The insurance industry’s campaign for cutting the cost of personal injury claims will not end with the banning of referral fees and the reduction of lawyers’ fixed fees in RTA Portal cases, a leading figure in the insurance industry has indicated. James Dalton, head of ...
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Risk and Compliance conference
The Law Society has unveiled a new consulting service to help members meet their regulatory obligations. Launched at the Society’s annual Risk and Compliance conference, the service aims to provide clarity and reassurance to law firms, in particular through guidance to newly appointed compliance officers. ...
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Separate representation vote condemned
The Council of Mortgage Lenders today accused Scottish solicitors of protectionism after they voted for separate representation for buyers and lenders in all conveyancing transactions. CML director general Paul Smee said: ‘It is disappointing that a measure which is so blatantly against consumer interests and ...
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Maintaining public confidence is tough for the judiciary
Having good judgement is one thing that the judiciary should be good at. But deciding cases is not nearly as difficult for judges as maintaining public confidence in the judiciary. And that requires considerable sensitivity to the public mood.
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Does Henry costs ruling undermine Jackson?
It was an interesting experience to have achieved success in the Court of Appeal for the appellant in Sylvia Henry v News Group Newspapers Limited ([2013] EWCA Civ 19), only for virtually every commentator in the costs world to pour derision on the judgment. Job well done, some might say. ...
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News
Family courts cuts will create ‘perfect storm’
Lawyers have voiced concern about plans to cut the number of judges and courts dealing with family cases in central London at a time when increasing numbers of litigants in person are expected to put greater strain on the service. The family justice system is working ...
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Why I quit the Lib Dems over secret courts
by Jo Shaw, executive director of Rosa, the UK women’s fund Last November, the new president of the Supreme Court, Lord Neuberger, gave a lecture entitled: ‘No Judgment, No Justice’.
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Spotlight on the European courts
It’s time to look again at the European courts in Luxembourg. I shall start with the particular, two recent and interesting cases affecting lawyers, and move to the general, the courts’ record in relation to efficiency and the appointment of judges.
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Poll predicts cull of north-west firms
Almost a fifth of law firm managing partners in north-west England are considering closing down their firm, according to a survey published today. The poll of 300 firm leaders by Liverpool firm O’Connors found the vast majority of respondents believed that planned changes to civil ...